UKC

BMC International Meet - Fun in the Sun!

© Jack Geldard
Japan's number one champion waterfall climber 'Big West' showed the UK hosts how to utilise vegetation...  © Jack Geldard
Japan's number one champion waterfall climber 'Big West' showed the UK hosts how to utilise vegetation...
© Jack Geldard

Becky McGovern of the BMC  © Alex Messenger / BMC
Becky McGovern of the BMC
© Alex Messenger / BMC
The 2011 BMC international meet was hosted in the Llanberis Pass, North Wales last week (8-14 May). Despite torrential rain in the mountains of Wales, the meet was a huge success, with climbers from all over the world sampling the delights of Wales' finest trad routes.

Climbers from different countries were invited to climb in the UK and teamed up with knowledgeable UK climbers of similar ability.

The coastal crags were the best option for dry rock and became the main target for the week with several adventurous and classic routes being ticked.

The meet was headed up by Becky McGovern of the BMC. Becky reported on the week on the BMC Website:

"The rain in Llanberis Pass did nothing to dampen the spirits of our keen climbers. Each day teams quested off to find dry rock and were rewarded for their commitment with plenty of dry weather at various venues. Baiba Zale from Latvia who had never climbed a traditional route before led her first E1 (Precious Metal, at Pen Trwyn) on the final day of the meet. Rehmat Ullah from Pakistan did his first ever rock climb following Elfyn Jones up Hail Bebe (V Diff) at Bwlch y Moch. Shinta Ozawa from Japan climbed Strawberries (E7) ground-up on his third attempt. Benno Wagner and Paul Sass from Germany both steadily onsighted Tonight at Noon (E6 6b) a strenuous Lleyn test piece."

Hosts and guests alike had a fantastic week of climbing, cementing international relations and passing on knowledge and information on climbing areas across the world.

The international meet is a fantastic event and is something that British climbers should be extremely proud of. The UK hosts did a brilliant job of showcasing our climbing and making sure that our international guests had a safe and adventurous stay.

PHOTOS: BMC International Meet

photo
The Climbers' Club hut in the Llanberis Pass was the base for the meet.
© Lucy Ham

photo
Japanese climber Shinta Ozawa flashing the probable second ascent of an obscure E7 near to Rhoscolyn
© Jack Geldard

photo
Guests stayed in the hut, in vans and camping. Tents were provided by Mountain Hardwear.
© Mark Richardson

photo
UK Host Neil 'safety officer' Dickson soloing Electric Blue (E4) Rhoscolyn
© Jack Geldard

photo
Team Slovenia dry out at the North Stack car park, Gogarth after rainy ascents of The Cad and T-Rex
© Jack Geldard

photo
Matic Obid of Slovenia climbing another top class E5 on the world class venue of Craig Doris, Lleyn Peninsula
© Jack Geldard

UK Host Neil Dickson having a good time testing sea cliff pegs for our international visitors - Bomber!  © Jack Geldard
UK Host Neil Dickson having a good time testing sea cliff pegs for our international visitors - Bomber!
© Jack Geldard
UK Host George Ullrich avoiding the rain on the Ormes classic 'Mr Olympia'  © Jack Geldard
UK Host George Ullrich avoiding the rain on the Ormes classic 'Mr Olympia'
© Jack Geldard

Crags visited

  • Gogarth (Main Cliff, Yellow Walls, Holyhead Mountain, Rhoscolyn, North Stack, Upper Tier, Castell Helen)
  • Ormes (Pen Trwyn, St Tudno's)
  • Llanberis Pass (Cromlech, Grochan, Carreg Wastad)
  • Slate (Vivian, Rainbow, Serengeti)
  • Tremadog (Craig Castell, Pant Ifan, Bwlch y Moch)
  • Lleyn (Ty'n Towyn, Porth Ysgo, Craig Dorys)
  • Ogwen (Idwal Slabs, Tryfan Bach)

Country list

Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, USA, England, Wales and Scotland.


The BMC would like to thank all the UK hosts and the Climbers' Club . Thanks to Mountain Hardwear for providing the tents, sleeping bags, plus some prizes for the final night party. Thanks also to DMM and The North Face for donating prizes. A big thank you goes to Huw, Stefan and their team who worked all hours keeping 70 plus hungry climbers extremely well fed.


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19 May, 2011
Ace!
19 May, 2011
That photo of Matic on the E5 at Dorys is brilliant, anyone know which route this is?
19 May, 2011
Good stuff, met a couple of them at tremadog and seemed to be having a great time, especially the dutch girl who'd just seconded the falcon! Also found a waterproof at the top of vector buttress on the thursday night and figured it could have been one of the visitors, if you know if anyone lost one please get in touch.
19 May, 2011
West and Shinta were no slouches in the cave last Saturday whilst waiting for the tide to go out at LPT. Nice photos :)
19 May, 2011
Hi KSJS, It's the route just right of Tonight at Noon, it steps off the pinnacle. I'm afraid I can't remember the name (it's got a slightly weird 3 word name I think) of it and I don't have a Lleyn Guide book to hand. There is now an E7 of Stevie Haston's between this E5 and TaN too, which looks great. The E5 shown is a top route. Not too hard physically, but takes a bit of working out. Cam protection. Thanks, Jack
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